The Author and The Audiobook Narrator -Setting Expectations
It’s always an honour to be selected by an author to narrate their book. When you consider the level of personal investment they’ve made to create something from within their mind, trusting another person to express their vision in an audible format is quite a leap of faith.
As an Audiobook Narrator, my job isn’t to just read the book out loud and record it. I see myself as an extension of their pen and it’s my responsibility to represent the work as the creator fully intended it to be heard.
To achieve this, it’s important to treat both the narration and the edit stages of production with equal weight, as they both impact on the effect that’s ultimately delivered.
Narrating Different Audiobook Styles
There are essentially two different groups of narration styles with audiobooks:
Audiobooks Without Dialogue
There’s a lot more nuance within these categories of course, but the way I approach a book will be largely affected by these factors.
Audiobooks With Multiple Characters
Let’s assume that the narrator has the skills and experience to deliver multiple character voices. The first job is to audition different voices for the author, selecting sections of text that best show-case your approach.
Creating Consistency With Character Voices
Once approved, the challenge for the narrator is to stay consistent throughout the reading. A book can take many weeks to complete and characters can pop up several chapters apart.
I like to keep reference voices in my work-flow that I can quickly refer to when one of these sections appears.
Character dialogue is more fatiguing for a narrator, requiring a much closer attention to the arc of the story in general, as well as a clear understanding of motive, emotional state and who is saying what.
There’s a need (if you’r sensible), to constantly check reference your delivery. It’s tempting to just blaze on and stay in the flow. Thats a mistake that many a creative free-lancer will have dealt with.
There’s no economy in doing this as you’ll just have to go back and do an amend if the client spots an inconsistency.
Audiobooks Without Dialogue
In terms of how complicated a project can be, the least complicated style for a narrator is narrative non-fiction. The key variables tend to be around the tone and the pacing. Once again, there are nuances with each text and it always helps for the narrator to be fully engaged with the content.
Some of my most effective reads have been in narrative non-fiction where my passion for a subject has been evident, without me even knowing.
Even if a subject is dry and you don’t align with it on an emotional level at first, thats no excuse for a flat, lifeless narration. Experienced Audiobook Narrators use tone variation, pacing and changing inflection to stop the read sounding monotonous.
You don’t notice it until later in the edit, but it’s easy to fall into the trap of repeating every sentence with the same rise and fall technique.
When a listener starts picking up on this, it’s hard for them to stop hearing it and the whole experience can be ruined.
After all, the job is about creating audio content that engages listeners, so you have to get into the groove.
Factual content comes in many forms and one of the joys of being an audiobook narrator is the wealth of knowledge I’ve gained from reading this type of work. here are some notable mentions.
What I Learned From Audiobooks Recently
Einstein was an average school student
Christopher Columbus never actually set foot on mainland America
Winston Churchill killed at least 3 White Rhinos on safari
The history of Egypt is actually quite long
The Spanish Inquisition were a nasty bunch
America was given its name due to a clerical error
Editing Different Styles
Once the book has been narrated the sense of completion feels great, but there’s much more work to be done. The edit is just as important as the recording itself and requires more time than the narration.
How Long Does It Take To Edit An Audiobook
The general rule of thumb is a 3:1 ratio, so you would allow 3 hours to edit 1 hour of finished audio. An experienced producer however can get that down of course, but it depends on:
The Genre
The Word Count
The Amount of Spoken Dialogue
The Editing Techniques Of The Producer
How The Audiobook Genre Affects Editing Time
Editing Audiobooks With Dialogue
Character heavy audiobooks take much longer in the edit than narrative non-fiction.
Without actively trying, the mental gymnastics of leaping from one character to the next during a dialogue narration causes micro pauses. You don’t feel them in narration, but they show up in the edit.
Dynamic Audiobook Editing
There are two time saving tricks that save time in the overall project timeline.
Punch and Roll
An experienced narrator will have used ‘punch and roll’ and probably have an external controller to speed up work-flows. This allows them to edit on the fly, saving time at the full edit stage. Punch and roll allows you select when the playback stops, allowing for immediate error amendments.
Dynamic Pacing Adjustments
Real people (not robots) need to breathe. When I’m in my stride, I can often get through a whole page without tripping up. However, when it’s necessary to stop, maybe to cough or itch your nose, the start point when you return needs to match the pacing.
To save time in the edit, I never finish at the end of a sentence, but always after the first work of the next one. This allows me to pick up at exactly the right speed.
Editing Audiobooks Without Dialogue
Naturally it follows that the process of editing an audiobook without dialogue is an easier process. The risk here though is complacency.
Yes, the style, tone and pacing will be consistent throughout, which saves time. The risk is that it becomes monotonous, so I like to adjust the pacing between phrases to provide variation.
How Long Does It Take To Record An Audiobook
The relationship between a book author and an audiobook narrator is crucial to the success of the project. I find the best way to approach this is to be clear in communication, especially about timelines and costs.
When I first started narrating audiobooks for clients, I had a habit of under-estimating the edit process. It was as if my memory of previous projects had been blanked when it came to that stage. I made the mistake a few times of over-promising and whilst I did deliver, I was pretty burned.
My pricing model and time estimates now always factor in the 3:1 editing ratio. I take into account the complexity of the text, any challenging language and the amount of dialogue.
A single hour of audio in an audiobook can mean anything from 3 – 5 hours of studio time. After the edit there’s then the mix to follow, though this tends to be done in bulk.
Working in this way allows me to set expectations from the outset in terms of time-lines and etc and cost.
It’s not in anyone’s interest to over-promise and under-deliver and my goal is to present your creative vision in its best ‘audio’ light.
Best regards
James
Contact The Author
James is an experienced British Audiobook Narrator in Hampshire UK. He works from a dedicated studio and has recorded, edited and mixed almost 60 audiobooks to date.
Take a listen to his work here and reach out if you have a project you’d like to discus. He has a reputation for quality, great character skills and being easy to work with. He’ll be happy to offer a free test read for you.
